The nets are used to catch a large fish called the totoaba that is valuable on the black market in China. But they also trap and drown the vaquita marina, the world’s smallest and most endangered marine mammal.

"You’re dealing with a very critical and urgent situation," said D.J. Schubert, a wildlife biologist with the Animal Welfare Institute. "It’s not hopeless, and it’s very important that people realize it’s not hopeless. But unless the illegal trade in totoaba is stopped, unless we can clean the illegal nets out of the upper gulf of Mexico, the vaquita doesn’t stand a chance.”

The Animal Welfare Institute is one of many organizations working to pressure the Mexican government and the international community to crack down illegal totoaba fishing and trafficking.

The last time CIRVA released a report about the number of vaquitas in 2016, there were an estimated 30 remaining. There were an estimated 60 left the year before that and nearly 600 in the late 1990s, according to data from CIRVA.

"What’s really sad about this situation is that everybody knows, everybody knows, what’s causing the extinction of the vaquita," Schubert said.

Carolina Castro/Sea Shepherd

The body of a vaquita marina recovered by Sea Shepherd in the Sea of Cortez on March 12, 2019. The animal was caught in an illegal totoaba fishing net.

But he and others believe not enough has been done to curb cartel-backed totoaba smuggling operations. He said new Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador needs to make the vaquita a priority or the species will very likely go extinct under his administration.

But while it's clear the vaquita's situation is dire, Schubert said, there’s still hope the species can recover if the remaining animals are protected.

Hidalgo of Sea Shepherd agreed.

"What's important, I think, is that the report shows that there is still hope," she said. "There are still enough animals out there that if we fight it hard enough to protect them from the nets, they still have a chance.”

Carolina Castro/Sea Shepherd

The activist crew aboard Sea Shepherd's patrol ship in the Sea of Cortez hauls in a illegal net that ensnared what appeared to be a vaquita marina porpoise on March 12, 2019.

Carolina Castro/Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd recovered he body of what appears to be a dead vaquita marina from an illegal totoaba fishing net in the Sea of Cortez on March 12, 2019.

The activist crew aboard Sea Shepherd's patrol ship in the Sea of Cortez hauls in a illegal net that ensnared what appeared to be a vaquita marina porpoise on March 12, 2019. Carolina Castro/Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd recovered he body of what appears to be a dead vaquita marina from an illegal totoaba fishing net in the Sea of Cortez on March 12, 2019. Carolina Castro/Sea Shepherd

The body of a vaquita marina recovered by Sea Shepherd in the Sea of Cortez on March 12, 2019. The animal was caught in an illegal totoaba fishing net. Carolina Castro/Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd pulls an illegal fishing net from the water in the vaquita refuge area. On March 12,2019, the crew found a net with what they believe was a dead vaquita marina porpoise entangled in it. Petey Crawford/Sea Shepherd